Body of missing Atlantic man located
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — An Atlantic, Iowa man, who was previously reported as missing, was located deceased in a field on Wednesday, July 22, east of Judge Lewis Field (Mount Ayr Municipal Airport) following a multi-agency search.
According to the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Department, Mark Francis, 39, was last seen on July 16 via closed circuit video footage from Casey’s General Store as well as the Mount Ayr Hotel along Highway 2 to help narrow down the search area. The footage showed Francis walking eastbound from Casey’s.
Francis was in Mount Ayr as a construction crew member working on the Ringgold County Courthouse where a replacement roof was being installed due to previous storm damage.
The multi-agency search led by the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Deaprtment consisted of fire departments from Mount Ayr, Diagonal and Kellerton, along with Ringgold County Emergency Management, Clarke County Emergency Management and the Embers.
Byron Jimmerson, a nine-year veteran and leader of the 911/ Emergency Management team in Clarke County, was the drone operator who located Francis’ body.
Video footage of the last known location of Francis narrowed down a starting point for Jimmerson to begin his search which he said lasted “about a minute.”
“I guess I got lucky,” Jimmerson said about how quickly he was about complete a successful recovery search.
Francis was located in a small clearing in a bean field just east of the of the municipal airport using a sophisticated drone with a special thermal 4K camera attached.
“These cameras are able to detect temperature variations when performing a ground search which give the search team locations to investigate on foot,” Jimmerson said.
Jimmerson indicated that the temperatures had cooled off significantly over the night before the aerial search began allowing for the heat signature of the victim to be easily spotted on the infrared equipped camera.
The sheriff’s office indicated that Francis was transported for an autopsy and were still waiting for the results. It is believed that Francis may have been having some sort of medical emergency due to the excessive heat on the days leading up to the incident, according to preliminary reports.
The sheriff’s department indicated that they believe this was an isolated incident and that no foul play was suspected. They went on to report that they did not believe that there was any threat to the community due to this incident.
